Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday on the seizure of US properties in response to the potential confiscation of Russian assets by the United States.
According to the decree, the Russian Central Bank and Russian entities will have the right to seek legal redress in court in case of the unlawful seizure of properties by the United States.
A special commission of the Russian government will identify US assets or properties, including movable and immovable US properties in Russia, securities, shares in Russian enterprises, and property rights, which can be used to compensate for losses incurred.
The government has been given four months to introduce amendments to Russian legislation to facilitate the implementation of the decree.
Russia recalls Armenia ambassador
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that it has recalled its ambassador to Armenia for consultations.
"On May 24, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Armenia, Sergey Kopyrkin, was recalled to Moscow for consultations," the ministry said in a brief statement on its website.
Relations between Russia and Armenia have been deteriorating since the pro-Western government led by Nikol Pashinyan came to power following protests in 2021.
A significant turning point occurred after Azerbaijan reclaimed its internationally recognized territory of Karabakh, which had been occupied by Armenian separatists from 1991 to 2023.
Yerevan blamed Russia for not defending the forces it had supported for many years and turned to the West for military assistance.
Meanwhile, the Armenian authorities have begun to reduce military and security cooperation with Russia.
Minsk meeting
Putin said on Friday that during his visit to Belarus, he intends to discuss security issues with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, including nuclear exercises between the two countries that are currently underway.
Putin arrived in the Belarusian capital Minsk late Thursday, where Lukashenko welcomed him at one of the airports in the city.
"I think that, as usual, we will bring security issues to the fore, and tomorrow we will discuss economic issues together with our colleagues from the governments," Lukashenko said, greeting Putin.
The Belarusian president noted that he also has "a very interesting proposal," involving the Caucasus region, which he discussed "very seriously" during a visit to Azerbaijan.
For his part, Putin said that when he visited China on May 16-17, Chinese President Xi Jinping "remembered" Lukashenko with "a kind word."
"I had a big meeting with members of the government, and we talked about my visit to you ... We will discuss all this today and tomorrow, including security issues, which you constantly pay great attention to. ... Of course, we will also talk about the exercises – about the second phase of the exercises," he said.
Russia on Tuesday announced the beginning of military exercises aimed at training the use of nuclear weapons. Belarus announced the same kind of drill on May 8. Neither Moscow nor Minsk specified the date of the end of the exercises. Xinhua and Anadolu
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